There was also plenty of action throughout the day’s seven races. In Group 3, which consisted of seven different car classes, Joe Huffaker in his F Production MG Midget and Brian Linn in a GT-Lite MG Midget ran one and two early on. But before the race’s halfway point, Wayne Graham in an E Production Mazda RX3 got a fantastic run out of Turn 9 and blew by Huffaker and Linn. Soon after, Andrie Hortanto’s Super Touring Lite Acura Integra and Oscar Jackson’s Super Touring Lite Honda CRX Si were in hot pursuit. Graham, Hortanto and Jackson put on a great show the last half of the race. And even though Graham emerged the overall Group 3 victor, all three drivers slid from their cars with giant smiles.

“I got a good holeshot coming out of Turn 9 and just blew by people,” Graham said after the race. “But then they came after me in the corners.”

As predicted, the Spec Miata class put on a pretty great show, too. Dean Busk, Steven Powers and Clement Lee put a gap on the rest of the field early on. And then the three swapped positions for a dozen laps. It was Powers that came through a cloud of dust in Turn 9, resulting for another competitor’s off-course excursion, to cross the finish line first.

“This feels great. It’s incredible,” Powers said. “Eighth to third on the first lap made me real happy.”

Round Four of the Western Conference U.S. Majors Tour continues on Sunday at Willow Springs with 35-minute races beginning at 10:30am PST. More information can be found at SCCA.com/majors.

“Both my dad and I, along with the entire Johnson & Johnson racing team, are setting our sights on another championship year thanks to the support of the Marathon brand,” said Johnson, racer and CEO of Johnson & Johnson Racing. “We are grateful for our partnership with Marathon Petroleum both on and off the track.”

Johnson also owns Greenville Oil and Petroleum, which consists of 37 Quick Stop Markets and three Lube X-Press oil-change facilities, all carrying the Marathon brand. “We’re pleased to have this opportunity to partner with Allen and his proven record of success, both on the track and in our industry,” said Bill McCleave, MPC brand marketing director. “Allen and his racing team strongly compliment the Marathon brand, and we’re proud to be aligned with such a great role model and champion in this sport.”

Darren Seltzer started on the B-Spec pole in the No. 6 BFG Racing/HPD/Dynasty Auto Honda Fit, but just a few laps in had the No. 0 Dynasty Automotive/BFG Racing/HPD Honda Fit of teammate Chi Ho in his mirrors. The pair swapped the lead position 10 to 15 times throughout the race, with Ho holding the top spot coming out of the final corner and racing for the win.

Making his Majors debut, Vincent Allegrata’s No. 07 Ave Motorsports/TA Sights and Sounds Chevrolet Corvette made a late pass to move around Simon Gregg’s No. 59 Gregg Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette, then held the position as the race fell under a full course caution to the checkered flag in GT-1.

The group traditionally known as “wings and things” – Formula Atlantic, Formula 1000, Formula Enterprises, Formula Mazda, Prototype 1, and Prototype 2 – had a challenging day as Group Six. After a lap two incident brought out a black flag and a restart of the race, a second incident on the opening lap of the restarted race brought out a full course caution, well after the group’s allotted 25 minute time.

With the final two races shortened to 20 minutes from the 25 as darkness approached, Cameron Maugeri kept his No. 72 Krugspeed Lotus Exige in front of Mike Flynn’s No. 94 Irish Mike’s Racing/BFGoodrich Tires Hyundai Genesis for the Super Touring Under win.

With darkness falling quickly, Robert Allaer’s No. 52 LTD Motorsports/Martini/Molson Van Diemen RF02/Ford capped the day with an overall win in Formula Continental. Just behind, however, Skylar Robinson crossed the stripe with a nose in front of Peter Dempsey in Formula F. Robinson, who piloted the No. 1 K-Hill Motorsports Mygale/Honda to the win, previously drove in England in Formula Ford for Dempsey’s father.

Round Four of the Southeast Conference Majors Tour continues on Sunday with 14 lap races at Sebring for all seven race groups. Live Timing, notes and more can be found at SCCA.com.

The 27 races on the 2016 schedule – from New England to Southern California, and from Washington to Florida – provides a comprehensive slate of venues and events designed to test drivers and showcase the best and brightest for NASCAR fans.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West schedules, announced today, comprise of 14 points races for each championship. It is highlighted by the annual meeting in the Heartland for the combination race at Iowa Speedway on July 29.

Both calendars include some of the best short tracks in the United States, as well as several companion events with NASCAR’s three national series, and three road-course races in each series.

In addition to returns to iconic staples of the East and West, both schedules features some exciting new events for 2016: New Jersey Motorsports Park, Alabama’s Mobile International Speedway and Virginia’s Dominion Raceway in the East, and West’s first trip to California’s Orange Show Speedway in more than 30 years.

The West slate also features the return of Douglas County Speedway in Oregon, as well as the first doubleheader weekend in series’ modern history with a pair of September races at Utah Motorsports Campus, formerly Miller Motorsports Park. The East celebrates the return to Connecticut’s historic Stafford Motor Speedway for the first time since 2008.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will race at 13 different tracks in 12 states. Highlights of the 2016 schedule include:

• The championship season will kick off once again at Florida’s high-banked New Smyrna Speedway on Sunday, Feb. 14, and the champion will be crowned at The Monster Mile, Dover International Speedway, on Friday, Sept. 30.
• The series will be the centerpiece of the inaugural season of the brand-new Dominion Raceway, a .4-mile oval 25 minutes south of Fredericksburg, Virginia with a trip on Memorial Day (Monday, May 30).
• New Jersey will join New York’s Watkins Glen International and VIRginia International Raceway to give the schedule a trio of road-course venues.
• Stafford was a staple of the series’ early years as the NASCAR Busch North Series with 29 races in 22 years, and will be the second trip to New England for the series along with New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
• The series will again race at two of NASCAR’s most venerable tracks with a pair of trips to South Carolina’s Greenville Pickens Speedway, and the July 2 event at Ohio’s Columbus Motor Speedway.

Highlights of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, which will race at 13 different tracks across eight states, include:

• The 2016 run will begin and end in California. The campaign will get underway in Southern California with a Saturday, March 19 race at Irwindale Speedway, just north of Los Angeles. And in a race that promises an electric atmosphere and fireworks before a traditionally sold-out crowd, the West will decide its champion on Saturday, Oct. 15, at All American Speedway, near Sacramento.
• In an unprecedented race weekend, the series will compete in two full championship races on Sept. 10-11 at Utah Motorsports Campus, the state-of-the-art road course 30 minutes southwest of Salt Lake City. The series ran at the track from 2007-2014 before it was closed temporarily last year. It is the first time the series will run back-to-back days since 1979, and first time since the series’ modern era began in 1971 that the two races in two days will be run at the same track.
• After successful inaugural events in 2015, Arizona’s Tucson Speedway and Idaho’s Meridian Speedway are again on the schedule and join series’ staples Kern County Raceway Park in California, Colorado National Speedway and Washington’s Evergreen Speedway.
• In addition to Utah’s two races, California’s Sonoma Raceway will be the third road course event as it hosts its 38th West race on the NASCAR Sprint Cup weekend in June.
• Orange Show Speedway, the quarter-mile oval in San Bernardino, California, has been in continuous operation since 1947. It held eight West races between 1968 and ’78.

In addition to Iowa, Watkins Glen, New Hampshire and Dover, companion events for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series feature East stops at Bristol Motor Speedway, as well as the annual West race at Sonoma. The 27 races that make up the NASCAR K&N Pro East and West calendar will be contested on 26 different weekends.

NASCAR K&N Pro Series television broadcast schedules on NBCSN will be announced at a later date.

As was the case on Saturday, Spec Miata came down to the final lap and the final corner. For most of the race, polesitter Danny Steyn, of Fort Lauderdale, Selin M. Rollan, of Miami, and Blake Clements, of Houston, Texas, were glued together, working to break away from the rest of the 47-car field. With 15 of the 22 laps complete, Steyn, who led all but the final lap in Saturday’s race, retired with a wheel bearing issue, leaving Rollan and Clements to settle first place.

Clements tested his run around the outside of the final two oval corners with three to go and tucked back in behind Rollan’s No. 87 BSI Racing/Apex Alignment/Rossini Mazda Miata waiting for the final lap. As they made the run around the oval the final time, Clements went high and swept alongside, edging ahead in Turn Four. But the move wouldn’t stick, as Rollan was able to use the side-draft to edge ahead by a nose, officially 0.025-second.

In the Spec Racer Ford group, Kerry Jacobsen, of Deland, Florida, took his second SRF3 class win of the weekend in the No. 39 Comprent Motorsports entry after battling early with Jim Goughary and Brian Schofield. In SRF, Quinten Nelson, of Newark, Ohio, earned his second win of the weekend in his No. 27 Alliance Autosport entry, edging team boss and multi-time National Champion Scott Rettich by just 0.076-second.

Tim Myers, of Atlanta, Georgia, scored a pair of class wins after having a tough day on Saturday. Myers battled with Saturday’s Touring 1 winner Ernie Francis Jr. to win that class in his BFG/ACIW/Carbotech/The Hammer Dodge Viper ACRx. In Touring 4, he battled Saturday winner Don Knowles to take the win in a similarly supported Mazda RX-8.

Tim Kezman, of Franksville, Wisconsin, chased Saturday Touring 2 winner Preston Calvert for 21 laps before seeing an opportunity to get past on the final tour around the 2.3-mile oval/road course to win in his No. 4 Calypso Lemonade/Fall-Line Motorsport Porsche 997.

In B-Spec, Chi Ho and Darren Seltzer, both of Orlando, again battled all race long in their Honda Fits, with Ho taking his second win of the weekend in the No. 0 BFGoodrich/HPD/Dynasty Automotive Honda.

Finally, 17-year-old Ryan Norman, of Aurora, Ohio, capped off a weekend sweep in Formula Atlantic, taking the overall win in Group 6 for the second-straight day in his No. 48 K-Hill Motorsports/FlipSide Swift 016/Mazda.

For full event results, please visit www.scca.com/homesteadmajors. The SCCA U.S. Majors Tour next travels up the center of the state to Sebring International Raceway, with qualifying beginning Friday, January 15.

FS2 will televise a one-hour program of select 2016 Lucas Oil Series events in primetime from 9-10 p.m. on the Thursday following each national event. In addition, FS1 will re-air the one-hour telecasts within three days of the original FS2 Thursday broadcast.

Lucas Oil Series races also will appear in Canada and the Caribbean through FOX Sports Racing, as well as being available through FOX Sports GO, the critically acclaimed app that provides live streaming video of FOX Sports content at home or on the go and now is available to 86 million subscribers.

“The Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series is an important developmental series in NHRA Drag Racing, and we are thrilled to showcase those great racers in action on the FOX Sports Networks,” said Peter Clifford, NHRA president. “It is important for our fans to connect with the Sportsman level of competition, and we know that our new telecasts will succeed in that goal.”

The first Lucas Oil Series telecast will air from the season-opening Circle K NHRA Winternationals in Pomona (Feb. 18, 9-10 p.m.) on FS2 with a rebroadcast on FS1 (Feb. 19, 10-11 a.m.). FS1 will air a second rebroadcast of the season opener on Thursday, Feb. 25, from 8-9 p.m.

The season’s premiere event, the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, will be telecast on Sept. 8 from 9-10 p.m. on FS2 with a re-air on FS1 on Sept. 11 from 3-4 p.m. The season-finale Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona will air on FS2 on Nov. 17 from 9-10 p.m. with FS1’s rebroadcast on Nov. 18 from 3-4 p.m.

2016 NHRA LUCAS OIL DRAG RACING SERIES TELEVISION SCHEDULE

All times ET. Schedule is subject to change. Please check local listings.

TOPEKA, Kan. (Nov. 13, 2015) –Five additional dates have been confirmed for the 2016 SCCA U.S. Major Tour schedule. The additions will complete the six-event schedules for the Mid-States, Northeast and Northern Conferences.

The Mid-States Conference gets two additional events added to the calendar. Competition in the Conference will open at NOLA Motorsports Park, Feb. 27-28, for the third-consecutive year. The 2016 edition of the event, held just outside of New Orleans, will serve as a dual-conference meet with the Southeast Conference like it was in 2015. In addition, MSR Houston will host its inaugural Majors event, April 30-May 1. This event will serve as the third event on the Mid-States schedule.

In the Northern Conference, the WeatherTech Chicago Region SCCA June Sprints at Road America will count toward the championship chase. This will be the fourth-consecutive season that the nationally-renowned event will be a stopping point on the way to the end of the Northern Conference trail. The event will run June 17-19.

The Northeast Conference slate of events was finalized with the addition of a pair of race weekends. Pittsburgh International Race Complex, in Wampum, Pennsylvania, is on the schedule for the second-straight year, moving to May 14-15. New Jersey Motorsports Park, in Millville, New Jersey, will serve at the penultimate event, July 22-24.

With the addition of these five events, the only outstanding item on the 2016 calendar is the information regarding the April event in the Western Conference, which will be announced as it becomes available. For 2016, four of the five Conferences will have six events, with the Southeast Conference counting five race weekends toward its championship.

Shawn Langdon has been hired to drive full time in 2016 for Don Schumacher Racing in the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing season and that gives DSR a world champion in the cockpit of each of its three dragsters.

Langdon joins teammates Tony Schumacher and Antron Brown in the DSR lineup, a trio that has combined to win the last four NHRA Top Fuel world championships; Brown (2012 and 2015), Langdon (2013) and Schumacher (2014).

Langdon, 33, competed for DSR during the six-race 2015 Countdown to the Championship playoff on loan from Alan Johnson Racing after that team suspended its operation at the end of the 16-race regular season due to a lack of sponsorship.

Langdon joined DSR’s Sandvik Coromant/Red Fuel Powered by Schumacher team with crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler and closed the season by winning the NHRA Finals title at Pomona, Calif., for his first win with DSR and the second of the year for the Red Fuel team that ended the year ranked sixth and just one point out of fifth.

“After Pomona last month, Alan and I sat down and discussed 2016 and beyond,” said Langdon, a native of Mira Loma, Calif., who lives in Avon near Indianapolis. “Alan and I decided it was in both of our best interests to go our separate ways. That was tough. I had a great three years with Alan, Alan Johnson Racing and being part of the Johnson family. I’ll have special memories for the rest of my life.”

A new chapter opens at DSR as Langdon will become the seventh driver to compete in Top Fuel for the seven-team organization since its inception in 1998.

“We are adding one of the best drivers in our sport and a quality young man to our lineup and nothing could make me happier,” said DSR owner Don Schumacher. “He’s a second generation driver from a great family and that fits in perfectly here.”

Langdon, who owns 12 NHRA Mello Yello event titles, will receive sponsorship from DSR ProSeries, Schumacher Electric Corporation’s professional brand of battery chargers and jump starters that deliver performance and reliability in any heavy duty application, along with continued support from Sandvik Coromant. Langdon also will continue to be a Toyota Racing driver.

Shawn Langdon

DSR ProSeries products are engineered using racing technology and features designed and tested at the racetrack. DSR ProSeries products and retail locations can be found at batterychargers.com.

“We’ve watched Shawn from his first days in Top Fuel and knew he would be a champion one day,” Don said. “I really got to know him at the end of this season when Alan Johnson allowed him to join us for the Countdown so both would have a chance to win another world championship.

“You couldn’t ask for a driver to interact better with his team and everyone at DSR. He is just a class act. He wanted to win a race so badly for the Red Fuel team and I was thrilled when he pulled that off at the Finals with Todd and Phil.”

Langdon is the only driver in NHRA history to own world championships in Top Fuel (2013), Super Comp (2007 and 2008) in Sportsman competition and the Jr. Drag Racing Series youth program (1997).

“I’m very excited about this new chapter in my life,” he said. “Don gave me the opportunity to race with DSR in the Red Fuel/Sandvik car at the end of this season so I got a taste of racing for DSR. It was perfect to end the season the way we did at Pomona in the Finals. Hopefully that’s a sign of what’s to come in 2016.”

The JEGS SPORTSnationals will comprise one event in 2016, moving back to the historic Kentucky facility owned by Dallas Jones and the Jones family on Memorial Day weekend. Beech Bend Raceway Park was the host of the original NHRA SPORTSnationals from 1974 to 1981.

“We are excited to see the JEGS SPORTSnationals return to its roots in Bowling Green,” said Eric Lotz, NHRA director of field marketing. “The event has become an integral part of Sportsman competition in the NHRA and we think Beech Bend Raceway Park is the perfect setting to showcase this great race. We know that Memorial Day weekend will be a rousing success for the Sportsman categories.”

The JEGS SPORTSnationals, the premier standalone event in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, will continue to be a national event with national points being awarded for all classes except Super Street, which will earn divisional championship points. New in 2016, all racers will receive an NHRA national event grade point for attending the race.

“We worked with the NHRA to enhance the JEGS SPORTSnationals for 2016,” said Scott Woodruff, director of media and motorsports for JEGS. “The event payout and contingency postings will raise to the NHRA national event level and every racer will get a grade point. Our goal is to make this the most exciting event for NHRA sportsman racers. We think having one must attend event will resonate with the NHRA sportsman racing community. Bringing the event back to Beech Bend Raceway where it started in 1974 will be special.”

Beech Bend Raceway Park is a multi-use facility located in scenic Bowling Green. Comprising a quarter-mile dragstrip, oval track and an amusement park, Beech Bend Raceway Park is one of the most family-friendly race venues in the country. The facility has also been the host of an NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Division 3 event since 1971 and the NHRA Wally Parks Motorsport Museum’s Holley National Hot Rod Reunion presented by AAA Insurance since 2003.

In addition to the first eight years at Beech Bend Raceway Park, the NHRA JEGS SPORTSnationals has also been contested at Houston International Dragway in 1982, then at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis in 1983-‘84 and back to Beech Bend for the 1985-’86 seasons. The race went on hiatus until 2005 when JEGS began its sponsorship of the event. Since then the race has been held at several prominent tracks and was featured in multiple races during some seasons. Tracks that have hosted the JEGS SPORTSnationals since 2005 are National Trail Raceway near Columbus, Ohio, No Problem Raceway Park in Belle Rose, La., The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, Calif.

JEGS been a strong supporter of the NHRA contingency programs throughout the years. JEGS is also the longtime sponsor of the JEGS Allstars race, NHRA’s most prestigious sportsman specialty race that will enter its 16th year in 2016.

Additional information on the JEGS SPORTSnationals will be released in the coming months.

A passion for drag racing runs in the Seipel family, as Kyle proudly points out his parents’ longstanding involvement.

“Believe it or not, my dad has bracket raced the same car since 1958. My mom has run two different drag strips out here in Northern California since 1982, so we’ve been doing this for a long time, that’s for sure. My dad is 79 and my mom is 73, and she’s still the drag strip manager at Sonoma Raceway. Those two people love drag racing more than anyone else I’ve ever met.”

Kyle followed in the footsteps of his father, Ted, when he started racing at age 12 and the father-and-son duo competed as a four-car team during the late-‘80s and early-1990s. Seipel’s résumé boasts 10 NHRA Lucas Oil Series Division 7 championships and 12 Division 7 E.T. Finals titles, all acquired before he turned 30 years old. Racing in Super Comp, Super Gas and Super Stock, Seipel won six of those titles as double-ups in three consecutive seasons. His success isn’t limited to NHRA competition, though; in 2007 Seipel defeated close friends and hugely successful sportsman racers Jeg Coughlin, Jr. and Peter Biondo in the late rounds of the Thanksgiving Bracket Nationals to take home a $45,000 pay check.

For the past decade or so, Seipel has competed on a limited schedule, but he’s still a serious player whenever he shows up to race. Driving for Justin Lamb and his Henderson, Nevada-based family operation, he started off 2015 with a win in Stock Eliminator at the Phoenix national event. The second-generation driver also won in Top Dragster and runnered-up in Stock at the Las Vegas divisional and Sonoma Nationals, joining an exclusive list of drivers who have won at the national level in five different classes. Lamb joined him in the winner’s circle at some of those races, too, so the partnership has proven to be a successful one.

“It’s a cool deal. They give me two cars that are probably some of the best vehicles out at the track. We try to help each other as much as possible. We race four to five cars at every event, including the Comp car Justin drives for a team out of Canada. Justin’s sister, Ryen, also races. We work real well together as a team. Justin was able to win at Sonoma, also. He won at Phoenix, too. I get just as much satisfaction seeing him win as I do if I get in the winner’s circle,” Seipel says.

As if driving two of the top-contending sportsman cars on the West Coast isn’t enough, Seipel also co-promotes the Spring Fling bracket races with Biondo. Six years ago, the best friends went into business together to promote the first Spring Fling at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee. A second event was added in Las Vegas two years ago to give West Coast bracket racers a chance to compete on a big stage with even bigger prizes.

“We spend about nine months a year trying to get as many manufacturers as possible to support the race. We were fortunate this year that, on top of the prize money we guarantee regardless of car count, we had over $50,000 worth of manufacturer giveaways to give away to the racers at both events. That’s something we’re very proud of. We do as much as we can to give good value to the manufacturers and the racers.”

The 2015 Spring Fling races were considered a resounding success by everyone involved, with 388 entries at Bristol and a whopping 480 cars entered at Vegas. The Sin City event is expected to grow even more next year, due in part to Seipel and Biondo’s latest creation, the Spring Fling Million. Four of the five days will be contested as they have in the past, but Saturday’s race will have a 100-percent-guaranteed payout of $100,000 to the winner, $50,000 to the runner-up and $1,000 round money starting at the third round. The purse will increase accordingly with the car count, hence the Spring Fling Million title.

“Five years ago, if Peter and I sat down at dinner and said we were going to have a million-dollar bracket race we both would’ve thought we were completely crazy. We tested the market to some extent this year where we had a $2,000-to-enter bracket race that was $50,000 to win. We took 32 entries and very well could’ve taken 70 or 80 cars. We used that as a gauge to see if this type of high-dollar event could work on the West Coast.

“It’s definitely a gamble,” Seipel admits. “We’re taking a proven product and we’re altering it somewhat. One day is going to be completely different than what we’ve done in the past. We believe in the racers and the racers seem to believe in us. We’re willing to take that gamble.”

As much as it is a business venture, putting on the Spring Fling races is a passion project for Seipel, one from which he enjoys immense gratification.

“I would say promoting the races gives me a lot more satisfaction (than racing). I’ve been racing since I was 12 years old, so a little over 30 years, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have some success. That being said, when you put your heart and soul into something for nine months with your best friend, it’s very gratifying when it goes well,” he says.

“It sounds kind of weird, but it’s real similar to having a baby. You work nine months, you don’t know how it’s going to come out, and when you open the gates and you see hundreds of racers come into the track within the first couple hours … I’ve shown more emotion then than I ever will winning a race.”